Liverpool - Tottenham Pre-Match Analysis: What to look out for as Spurs travel to Merseyside?

What should we expect as Spurs face Liverpool?

Tottenham Hotspur travel to Merseyside to face Liverpool this weekend, hoping to keep their title challenge going after the international break. What should we look out for in the game?

Potential fatigue

With no less than ten Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool players in the England squad for the international friendlies, it will not be a surprise if the high pressing game these two teams have to play takes a back seat until the next round of fixtures. Adam Lallana, Danny Rose, Harry Kane and many more played over 141 combined minutes in the two friendlies against Germany and Holland. Mauricio Pochettino and his training staff have undoubtedly drilled all of the Tottenham players for these exact moments, and this is where they could reap the rewards. You'd expect the game to be a fast paced one, but towards that later stages of the second half things should slow down and most of the players will more than likely become fatigued and tired.

Key players

Roberto Firmino, one of the Premier League's in form players in 2016. Throughout this campaign, 'Bobby' has managed to rack up eight goals and seven assists only seconded to his Brazilian counter part Phillipe Coutinho in terms of goals. This will be Firmino's first appearance against Tottenham Hotspur as he did not feature in the 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane earlier in the season. However, Spurs have the best defensive record this campaign, only letting in two goals in their last three games, while scoring three times that amount in the same period of time. Overall, Roberto Firmino will have a tough task coming up against Toby Alderweireld and Kevin Wimmer but at the moment, it doesn't look like his current form will slow down any time soon.

Harry Kane. With five goals in his last three Premier League appearances, there is no doubt in anyone's mind that he is a goal scoring machine and one of, if not the leagues in form player at the moment. Harry joins a list among some of the greatest strikers ever to grace the game, Andy Cole, Alan Shearer and Robbie Fowler as he is only the fifth ever Englishman to score 20+ goals in consecutive Premier League seasons. In this fixture last year, Kane scored the equaliser for Tottenham on the 26 minute but a turn of events saw Tottenham lose 3-2 to a Mario Balotelli winner in the last ten minutes of play.

The atmosphere

When Liverpool are playing, few places become louder and more passionate than the Kop end at Anfield. As soon as the Liverpool players come out, a roar of 'You'll Never Walk Alone!' bellows around the stadium and Liverpool have they're 12th man. It would be hard for any football player not to be scared by this spectacle but the Spurs players will have to be mentally and physically prepared for this moment. As an encouragement for Spurs, you could argue that they have one of the best sets of away supporters in the league, which could match the Anfield atmosphere, if Spurs get the good start they desperately need.